Scanning tunneling microscopy investigation of the dimer vacancy{endash}dimer vacancy interaction on the Si(001) 2{times}{ital n} surface

Journal Article · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.589173· OSTI ID:280139

Smith, A R; Men, F K; Chao, K ^[1]; Zhang, Z ^[2]; Shih, C K ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 (United States)
2. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)

Scanning tunneling microscopy has been used to investigate the formation of the 2{times}{ital n} vacancy line structure on Si(001). We find that quenching the surface from high temperatures results in the formation of vacancies. After further quenching, these vacancies nucleate into chains running perpendicular to the dimer rows. Finally, the vacancy chains connect and develop into vacancy lines which extend for many thousands of A{close_quote}s. Each vacancy line consists of mainly two types of dimer vacancies: (1) a di-vacancy and (2) a combination of a single vacancy and a di-vacancy separated by an isolated dimer. All the vacancy lines together with the dimer rows form a 2{times}{ital n} structure with 6{le}{ital n}{le}12. Calculations using the Stillinger{endash}Weber potential support the view that the formation of the vacancy line structure is due to the interaction between vacancies. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Vacuum Society}

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 280139
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena, Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 14; ISSN JVTBD9; ISSN 0734-211X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CHEMICAL BONDS
DIMERS
INTERACTIONS
SILICON
STM
SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
VACANCIES